Birds, Birds, Everywhere

  • 60
Time

Benefits
  • Bring Joy
  • Time Together

Participants
  • One to One or Group Activity

What you need

  1. Printed templates of different birds 
  2. Pencils, paints and felt pens
  3. Extra-large sheet of card 

Intro

Since living alongside dinosaurs, millions of years of evolution has sculpted birds into a breath-taking array of colours, shapes and sizes. From the mighty eagle and the minute wren, to the waddling penguin and the galloping ostrich. 

While we’re more likely to see a beautiful blackbird than a fancy flamingo out the window, National Bird Day on 5th January is the perfect time to celebrate these wonderful, winged marvels. 

In this art activity, create a mural of birds to have on display – either as a 1-to-1, or with a group and spread the activity over several sessions, if needed.

The Activity

  1. Put a small selection of bird templates onto the table initially, as too many can be overwhelming
  2. Ask each person to look through the images and discuss which they like best, and which they’d like to colour in
  3. Use the images to spark conversations. You could ask things like, “What’s your favourite bird?”, “Do you have any funny stories about birds?” or “Has a seagull ever stolen your ice cream?!”
  4. Allow each person to choose what medium they would like to use 
  5. Continue the colouring over the session and on other days if required
  6. Cut out the coloured-in birds
  7. Take a large piece of card (or use a notice board if you have one) and pin or glue the birds to the display board
  8. Overlap the birds to cover the whole board 
  9. Step back and admire the bursts of colours and put on display for everyone to enjoy
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